


The Wedding of Catherine Tate

by Waitingontatennant



Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-10
Packaged: 2018-01-03 05:10:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1066147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waitingontatennant/pseuds/Waitingontatennant





	1. Chapter 1

Even with the idea entering his head a few times he never actually thought that it would happen. Catherine getting  _married_. She never did seem the marrying type, marriage always seemed to final, too restrictive. Catherine never wanted that. Or so David thought. What he certainly didn’t expect was his reaction to the news of such events, especially after so long of not speaking.

It had now been 6 years and a few months since they last spoke. Well 4 month to be exact. If David was asked to recall the exact date it wouldn’t be an issue. 22nd April, that date will forever be in his mind like some awful anniversary. Funny how he still has trouble remembering the birthdays of his closest friends, even his own wife’s but never that date. It haunts him.

The last time he actually  _saw_ Catherine though was more recent than that. Around two years ago on a snowy December’s day. An old friend of David’s Christmas party. He was safe in the knowledge that Catherine had no connection to him, he took immense comfort from that and felt free to make an appearance.

The shock on his face.

The utter astonishment that Catherine was there. He’d forgotten the little details of her face, the angle that mouth points to when she smiles or the intensity of her hair. Seeing her stood at the patio doors laughing, as she always seems to be; with flakes of snow opting to perch themselves onto the edge of her hair that had managed to escape beyond the threshold. Ah, how she took his breath away.

He would have broken that agreement they each made there and then, the agreement to let each other live their lives free of the torment that their situation had brought them. An agreement of such also comes with its sacrifices. They also gave up the chance to be happy. The kind of happy they only where with each other. He’d of done this, went back on all his word and ignored his judgement just to speak to her again see that smile directed toward him, just one more time.

If it wasn’t for the man who stood  _a little_ too closely to Catherine.

Catherine’s  _date_  for the night. More importantly the way Catherine looked at him. The overwhelming look of, well David liked to think it was nothing but Christmas cheer but he knew, she was in love. It killed him more than words could explain. Well, being run over consecutively 4 times was about the only way he could think of doing so, but even that was a dent on the true extent of his hurt.

He made no attempts to explain his sudden departure, he just simply saw Catherine and left.

With somewhat tentative questioning of his friend he managed to find out that the man with Catherine was indeed her date for the night. Not only the night but for the past six months.

And he was  _so_  happy for her.

But so unbelievably sad.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a cruel way to find out. It seemed David was the last to know. In the end he received the crushing news by a casual text simply reading-

_It’ll be great to catch up at Catherine’s wedding mate, it’s been years._

Catherine and David had been best friends, to the rest of the world they still firmly where, to David they _still_ where. So it would had been obvious to everyone that he would be there, the closest he could get to the front cheering on his best mate marring the man she _loved._

But that wasn’t going to happen.

Even if he was invited, which it became alarming clear he was _not_ , there would no cheering involved. Just simple what-ifs and should-of-beens.

After some deliberation he came to his conclusion- he must speak to Catherine. No clear idea of what he would say, or if he even had to ability to speak around her anymore, he simply knew it _had_ to be done.

Approaching her door was the most anxious thing that he had ever done. The simple journey from the steps up to her door seemed to take an age. Step, by step.

The waiting was the worst.

Isn’t it always?

Catherine opens the door whilst still facing the opposite direction laughing at an unshared joke. The laughter fell once David’s gaze was met.

“Hi”

“What are you doing here David? You can’t be here” she closed the front door behind her slightly enough so that her fiancé was unable to her, but open enough that she could make a quick return to safety if needed.

“A phone call would have been nice, or even an email. Jesus, a text Catherine. Anything but to let me find out like this.”

“I don’t have your number.” She let out a slight giggle to try and ease some of the tension she felt.

“Where you ever going to tell me?”

The truth or lie? “No” she chose the truth, hurting David more by lying wouldn’t help the situation. She fully understood that.

“Jesus Catherine.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“I want to talk, and I mean properly talk. Not stood on the door step like children. I _need_ to talk to you Catherine.”

“Could of chose a better time, we’ve just ordered a Chinese.” In any other situation David would have laughed, but the fact that Catherine was trying to protect herself from him by using humour frustrated him. If at any time they need to be true with each other it was now. “Alright David, give me to seconds.”

With Catherine out of sight David could breathe again. The comforting feeling didn’t last long, new panic arrived in the form of what path the events of tonight would lead them down. Where they would go, what they would say, what they would _do._

The sudden bang of the door closing shut roused David to his surroundings. To Catherine stood in front of him “Err…the usual then?” Said with a cautious smile.

“David, it hasn’t been the usual for over 6 years.” She smirked at him.

He let out a sly grin back, seems he wasn’t the only one counting.

The seemly dingy pub they entered down a back street in Soho provoked bittersweet memories. It was the backdrop of some of their most precious moments together, and their worst. However, it was _their_ pub. They never entered it without the other by their side.

“So, where do we begin?”

No answer seemed to come from David, so reluctantly Catherine begun.

“I was… In the beginning when it first happened, when he first proposed. I _was_ planning on telling you. But then it occurred to me, it had been nearly five years since we spoke _. Five years_ David. We’d both moved on. Each had a life of our own. Both finally happy.”

“That’s a lie.”

“No, I am happy David. _So_ happy.”

“I’m not disputing that Catherine, but tell me. Tell me that you wouldn’t have been happier if-“

“If what David? If what! Oh Christ, what is the point in thinking ‘if’ it was never going to happen really was it David? No matter how much I _adored_ you- _loved_ you… you were married, are married with children. Don’t ruin something good for something that was never meant to be!”

“And you don’t think I know that? You don’t think it tortures me that I still pine, I still _ache_ for a woman that’s no longer in my life? No matter how much time, how much distance you put between us Catherine I _can’t_ change the way I feel about you.”

“Then try to forget.”

“Are you kidding me? Did this, did I really mean so little to you that you could just ‘forget’ everything that happened?”

“No, of course not I didn’t-“

“Then don’t say it then! If your trying hurt me”

“Don’t you dare, don’t you even dare say that! Can’t you see, are you that _blind!_ I’m trying my best to stop you from being hurt! For 2 years David, for 2 full long hard years I stood back and watched the man I _loved_ build a life with another woman. So don’t you dare act as if you’re the victim in this. I’m giving you up so your marriage has a chance, so my marriage has a chance!”

“Catherine-“

“No, fuck it. You’re not ruining my marriage along with your own”

“Catherine, Catherine wait!” 


	3. Chapter 3

 

David burst through the doors of the pub franticly trying to catch up to Catherine, to reason with her to stay.

“Catherine! Stop” he got close enough to grab her arm to stop her from walking any further.

“Get your hands off me David!”

“Then stop running from me! Please Catherine”

“Why have you done this David? I finally moved on with my life, found a man that I _adore_ and who adores me. Can’t we just leave things to what they were?”

David’s response came in the form of a kiss so passionate that it through Catherine against the stone wall of the pub. She’d kissed David hundreds, thousands times but never like this. He’d pressed himself as close to Catherine as humanly possible. It seemed that 6 years of want and desire had explode in one swift moment between them.

Once the kissed stopped Catherine let out a sigh, placed her hands on David’s chest and looked him directly in his eyes.

“Don’t say it Catherine, please”

“I can’t… I can’t let you think that you can just come into my life and charm me into doing as you please. I don’t want my life I be like that”

During their relationship, if it can even be described as one, Catherine always felt that she was overwhelmingly more invested than David ever was. And it was true, he had a wife and kids and he had to balance Catherine around that. This made her crushingly aware that David wasn’t hers, which only made her appreciate him even more. The time they spent together became more precious.

Stolen moments.

The long separation from Catherine had a similar effect on David. He’d always recognised and appreciated how utterly unique she was, especially in the way she made him feel, but six years had made him recognise just how much of an impact she made to his life. Every day he was reminded of her absence. Every day he felt the pain of her absence. He’d always loved Catherine as much as she does him, he was now just more willing to share it with her.

“Tell me that you love him more than me?”

“David”

“Say it and I’ll go. I won’t bother you again.”

“Love doesn’t work like that David, what I feel for you is completely different to what I feel for him. There’s many different types of love.”

“Christ Catherine just answer me.”

“I never once, not once demanded you reassure me that you loved me more than Georgia. It’s not fair David.”

“Yeah but you already knew the answer Catherine come on.”

Her expression told him that she indeed had an answer in mind, but it was the wrong one.

“You seriously never knew? It was you Catherine, it’s always been you.”

“You know 6 years ago David, well even 3 years ago I’d of died to hear you say them words to me. It’s just too late.”

These words still had as much of an effect on Catherine as they ever would have. She was screaming inside dying to just kiss him, hug him, hold him anything anything to let him know that she loved him back.

“I can’t believe that you don’t love me till I hear you say the words”

The hesitation was all David needed to promptly kiss Catherine again. Just as passionate as the first time but now with an extra added something. Hope. 


	4. Chapter 4

Catherine lay awake watching David sleep. There wasn’t really anything else she could focus on in the bare 2 star hotel room, anyway she’d always liked watching David sleep. The pout he made with his lips during slumber always made her smile.

Not long after Catherine woke David did to. Seeing the expression on her face made him immediately worry that she was regretting the events of the night “Catherine, you alright?”

Of course she didn’t regret it, she didn’t regret anything that involved David. How could she? He made her so happy. That however just made her feel worst. She should hate him for having this power over her, she should hate herself for having the same power over David, but she didn’t. She’d accepted their situation a long time ago. No matter how much it messed with her life or gave her conflicting emotions she just simply accepted it for what it was. She loved him, he loved her and they were both of limits to the other.

Nights like this made their situation seem sordid. A Cheap hotel room, excuses of why they didn’t come home, having to immediately wash any clothing worn during their nights together in case their smell lingered. Sordid. Any person viewing it from the outside would think that it was, eventually Catherine began to think it was too. That’s why the whole agreement came about.

“Yeah I’m great” the smile she accompanied with her response told more.

“Did you ever tell him about me? Well, about  _us_?” David didn’t know why he brought that up now, it’d been eating away at him all night. He knew that if he’d waited for the morning he may never have an answer.

Catherine hesitated before answering; there was no point in arguing with David. He wouldn’t ask unless he needed to know, and she knew that.

“He knows about you, I mean you’re David Tennant you can hardly bloody escape you” they both smirked at this remark “He knows that, that you were my friend a close friend a  _dear_ friend. He knows that you were important to my life, although he probably doesn’t grasp just how much. But he doesn’t know what we were… that anything happened between us. I mean I don’t know about you but I don’t think it’s a good idea to be telling your future husband that you have a tendency to be your best mate’s mistress” Catherine laughed at the last bit, thinking of how bizarre there situation really was. A love triangle didn’t come close to explaining.

“I still am your friend Catherine”

“Oh David, I don’t think we’ve been friends for a long time” His expression become masked with hurt so she felt the need to explain “I just mean that, well we kinda forgot how to be  _just_  friends didn’t we? Every time we spent together we just ended up in bed, in the end we spent more time shagging than actually speaking. It became the only way that we could be around each other. Where stuck between friendship and lovers”

At this point David opted to sit up and Catherine chose to follow him, appreciating that the conversation had turned more seriously that she anticipated.

“You can be both Catherine!”

“Of course you can, that’s called a  _relationship_ David”

“And what we had was a relationship of sorts wasn’t it?”

“If by ‘relationship of sorts’ you mean affair then yes”

Catherine had no idea how cruel her words sounded, she had an ability to explain things in a way that detached any emotions that were involved making it sound like it was purely sex. She said things bluntly not really understanding the effect it could have on people, especially “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“What we had Catherine cannot be categorised as simply an ‘affair’ believe me I’d love if things were that simple” He crossed his arms at this point, refusing to face her.

Catherine felt the need to fix this, the night had lead down the wrong path. Even after six years they fell into their bickering ways so easily”

“I love you David”

All previous hostility was dropped between them, he faced Catherine as soon as what she said registered. He leaned towards her and kissed her gently “I love you too”.

A long silence went between them, Catherine was simply basking in the moment, taking in every detail of David whilst she still could. How he smells, the rhythm of his breathing- the details that make up him. But for David his mind was firmly focused on Catherine’s  _fiancé._ What he was like, if he made her laugh in that way she only did with David. He needed to know that the way she looked at him was purely that, just for  _him._ He needed to meet the guy she had chose to spend her life with and he was fully aware of the only opportunity he would get to do so.

“So do I still not get an invite then?”

How David could move so easily from declaring his love to checking up on Catherine’s marriage bemused her “I honestly didn’t think you’d want to come”

“Well just let me know what month it’s in and see if I can spare sometime for you” always with the humour.

“David, I’m getting married in two weeks”

_Two weeks_  rang in his head, he presumed that he would have months even maybe a year to process the information not  _two weeks._ It seems he really was the last to know, even the local florists where aware before he was. He didn’t let Catherine know how much he was hurting it wasn’t fair putting her under any more pressure.

 “I'll be there.”

Catherine didn’t reply to that statement, she could explain to him why he shouldn’t come why it would make to the day even harder to for her but she decided to leave it. If David felt that he could manage it then so could she. 


	5. Chapter 5

Waking up alone in that bed without Catherine destroyed a little bit of David. Reaching out for her as he woke only to find an empty space where she had previously laid beside him hurt him deeply. The fact that the space next to him was also cold told David that Catherine had left him a long time ago. The only evidence of their shared night together was the lingering smell of her perfume.

What could he truly expect?

So many of their nights spent together had resulted in David leaving, rushing to get back to his duties and his family. To his other life. He just thought that maybe… maybe that night was different.

Silly.

Lying in bed now with his  _wife_  produced altogether different feelings, the mundanity of his life had sucked all the excitement out of waking up. With Catherine David was never quite sure how time spent with her would end, or even begin. Whether they would laugh, cry, kiss or scream was all in the anticipation of their meetings. The anticipation that only came with Catherine.

It had been nearly two weeks since that night, and the dawn of Catherine’s wedding was steadily approaching. Tomorrow would be the last day of her being Catherine Tate, she would be then be taken from him. Time to let her go. Start a fresh.

Well, not quite.

Despite the time being 3 o’clock David found that he was wrenching himself out of bed scrambling to find his phone. A quick message, that’s all. No communication in two weeks, be rude not to say  _something._ Maybe just a text? No that doesn’t send the right message. A call then, yeah a voicemail message. Yes right, just a quick message to invite her out for lunch or something? Lunch on the day before her  _wedding,_ would she want to spend that day with him? Well, what’s the harm in asking?

“Hello David”

Shit she’s picked up. It’s 3am and she picked up his call not even leaving it to ring more than twice. He was a little pleased with himself. Back to the current situation however he was not pleased with.

“Christ Catherine, I wasn’t actually expecting you to pick up”

“Well its 3am David, I presume there’s something  _important_ that you needed to say for you to ring at this time”

“Actually… I was just going to ask you to lunch or maybe dinner?”

“I’m not too sure that anywhere open at this hour” He could feel her smirk on the other end of the call.

“Ah yes see I intended a voicemail message, not to be actually  _speaking_ to you”

“Couldn’t wait?”

“No actually”

“Ah”

“Yes well, I’ll leave you to sleep, don’t want you to wak-… Goodnight Catherine”

Catherine knew what David had intended on saying, despite his rush to end to conversation she wasn’t quite finished with him yet.

“I’m at my mother’s house David”

“Oh right” Just round the corner. Handy.

“Meet me?”

“Yes”

Meeting in a neutral place seemed the best idea, no man’s land. Nowhere that could spark dangerous emotions.

In the end they picked a small park in the centre of them both.

Walking towards Catherine sat on a bench surrounded by snow triggered back memories of that Christmas so many years ago when it was first apparent that he had lost Catherine. It seemed nowhere was safe.

“Hi”

“Ah, Hello stranger… so what was so urgent that it demanded my attention in the middle of the night?”

“I’ve been thinking. I can’t stop thinking. You’ve made such an impact on my life Catherine… and that night. Ah that night was beautiful. I  _need_  you in my life, in some form or another”

David left the decision of what exactly that form would be of up to Catherine. Their fate,  _his_  fate in her hands. Friends or lovers.

“So you wanna give friendship a go then?” seems she made that decision.

Not the one he wanted, not the one she wanted either he suspected, but they had to try. Losing Catherine once was hard enough, it would destroy him to lose her twice.

“Yeah”

“You really think that going to work then?  _Just friends_ ”

No “Yeah… I loved you as a friend first. I suppose ill just do that again”

"Right" 

They both understood that what they were saying was nonsense. They however also understood they needed to try.

It wasn’t meant to be.

It could be so astonishing, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Some of the most perfect things weren’t.

And so it was with the story of David Tennant and Catherine Tate. 


	6. Chapter 6

Fixing his cufflinks his in bedroom mirror David hadn’t really grasped the situation he was about to put himself in. Sitting in the audience of a wedding with his wife watching the possessor of his heart give away hers.

Friendship was good, friendship was nice, friendship was never enough.

The only object of his focus was a man’s head sitting four rows in front of him to his right. David was wondering what he was saying, what he was thinking. Whether the prospect of being married to Catherine excited or frightened him. Obviously the former, David couldn’t imagine a man who wouldn’t think himself lucky to be chosen by Catherine to share her life with.

David was shook out of his daydream by 150 wedding guest all rising to the sound of the classic church organ echoing of the stone walls that surrounded him. It was happening, actually happening, not the way it did in his mind, right here right now. The desire to turn around and face Catherine overcame David, he was already facing towards the entrance before she had even stepped foot over the threshold.

Catherine seemed to almost radiate light, the sun that shone from behind her fell onto her hair emphasising its colour to such a vividness that David had never before been privy to. She exceeded all expectation of beauty that he had thought possible.

The actual ceremony didn’t seem to cause _too_ much pain for David. All his sensors seemed too obstructed by the sight of Catherine, he only saw her. The background music of the vows didn’t seem to register with him.

The only time that David’s poker face broke was when Catherine and her now _husband_ sealed their marriage with a kiss. Flashbacks of hundreds of kisses shared with Catherine came into David’s mind. His sensors were obscured no more. He began to cry silently. Looks from mutual friends in the audience told that they suspected that David’s tears weren’t happy ones. Suspicions had always been around, the looks that they shared always gave too much away. The feelings they were asked to act seemed a little to real, they couldn’t be fabricated.

Indeed it seemed the only people blindingly oblivious to the extent of their relationship was Catherine and David’s partners. Although it was always hard to determine what they actually knew and what they chose to hide.

David managed to sit through the speeches, although criticising them in his head for not really doing Catherine any justice. However the thought of the having to sit through the pain of the first dance didn’t bare thinking about. He decided that they should have a little dance of their own, he should be the one to dance with Catherine on her wedding day.

“May I?” David had interrupted Catherine’s slow dance with an older gentleman.

“Ah yes be my guest”

“David”

“Catherine” David placed his hand in Catherine’s and his other on her shoulder blade, giving him the opportunity to slide it down to fall into the small of her back, taking in the shape of Catherine one last time “You scrub up well.”

“Oh this old thing! I see the velvet’s made an appearance again, trying to upstage me David?”

“Ah well, I try… No but, seriously Catherine. You look _beautiful_ ”

“Thank you” Catherine had to drop her head whilst saying this, the sincerity in his eyes made her deeply sad.

“It’s harder than I thought it would be”

“I know…really I do”

And she truly did, after all she had to sit through the same experience. Until today David never really understand the extent of pain Catherine had put herself through just to keep him. He felt rightly selfish because to this. Even more for the words that where now making their way past his lips.

“If I had of had any choice in the matter Catherine… it would have been you. I hope you know that, if I, if we had fallen quicker or even realised soon and I was still free to make a choice I’d give you everything. I just want you to know that, if nothing else, if you ever thought we were a waste of time just know that. And also, well more importantly that I will forever love you. No matter the time or distance between us or our last words I will _love_ you.”

A silence between Catherine and David extend till the end of the song. Once this arrived Catherine promptly closed the space between her and David; choosing to change their position into a hug. Into his ear she whispered “I love you too. And I will always _always_ be your Catherine.”

Once the hug ended Catherine denied David eye contact she simply walked to her right to speak to other guest.

David knew now that this was the end. They had got the goodbye that they never had before. It wasn’t a solid goodbye they both knew that, there paths may cross again in a year or even ten but they understood that it was a condition of them loving each other. Sometimes they just needed to be together, and that was okay. For now though they were traveling down different roads. They needed space from each other, from the intensity that was them. David very much appreciated this, her marriage was in its infancy and it needed work and with him in the picture that would never happen.

He was giving Catherine up as she had done him.

Physically anyway. 


End file.
